In general, laundry equipment (laundry (clothes) treating apparatus) includes a washing machine, a clothes dryer or a washing-drying machine simultaneously having washing and drying functions. The washing machine is an apparatus for removing contaminants from a contaminated laundry through washing, rinsing and dehydrating (spin-drying) processes. The washing machine includes a main body defining an appearance, a tub installed within the main body for storing water, and a drum rotatably mounted inside the tub. A laundry and washing water are filled in the drum together with a detergent and rotated to apply physical impacts to the laundry, thereby washing the laundry. Typically, washing machines are categorized into two types according to whether a rotational shaft of the drum is horizontal or vertical, namely, into a top-load type washing machine having the vertical rotational shaft, and a drum type washing machine having the horizontal rotational shaft.
The laundry dryer refers to an apparatus, in which a completely dehydrated laundry after being washed is thrown into a drum of the dryer and hot air is supplied into the drum to dry the laundry by evaporating moisture contained in the laundry. The dryer includes a drum located within the dryer in which the laundry is accommodated, a driving motor for rotating the drum, a blow fan for blowing air into the drum, and a heating unit (heater) for heating air introduced into the drum. The heating unit may use high temperature electrical resistance heat generated by using electrical resistance, or heat of combustion generated upon combusting gas.
The air discharged out of the drum of the dryer contains moisture of the laundry filled in the drum so as to be hot and humid. Here, the dryers are classified, according to how to process the hot humid air, into a condensing type dryer, in which hot humid air circulates without being discharged out of the dryer to be heat-exchanged with external air within a condenser such that moisture contained within the hot humid air can be condensed, and an exhaust type dryer, in which hot humid air passed through the drum is discharged directly to the outside of the dryer.
However, in regard of the washing machines or dryers, various attempts to deposit specific scent desired by a user onto a laundry after completed drying have been done. When such specific scent is supplied onto the completely dried laundry, it may be helpful to remove laundry-specific odor and also to enhance user's satisfaction about the product.
To this end, in the related art, scent material-cohered non-woven fabric was put into the drum together with the laundry to remove an odor of a remnant detergent within the laundry and an odor of water used for washing and to supply new scent. However, the related art method had several problems. Namely, the non-woven fabric component used was not completely decomposed and accordingly sometimes caused a mechanical disorder, such as blocking a filter while moving together with the laundry within the drum of the dryer, and lowered a scent supply function due to a local contact with the laundry to be dried. Furthermore, recycling of the non-woven fabric after used was difficult, which caused an environmental problem such as creating waste or the like. Since the non-woven fabric was thrown into the dryer at an initial step of a drying stroke, scent was not sufficiently left on the laundry after completion of the drying stroke.
The related art also employed a scent supply method, in which a solid type scent material stored within the dryer was heated or affected by vibration, if necessary, to emit scent, and the emitted scent was supplied into the drum of the dryer via a scent supply duct. However, the solid type scent supply unit was difficult to supply scent enough into the drum and also incapable of spraying scent into the drum in time when required.
The related art also employed a method for supplying scent by spraying a liquid type scent material into the drum. However, such scent was not effectively deposited onto the laundry within the drum, which required excessive scent to be sprayed, thereby causing consumption of the scent solution stored in the dryer. Or, an appropriate method for controlling a scent spraying module was not present, thereby affecting a lifespan of an apparatus for supplying scent.